Internal Warfare Ch1-5

[Jenn Lynne]

CAUTION: Very Graphic
All of the information here about the virus Marburg is true, and based closely on Richard Preston's book, The Hot Zone.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters and I do not own the Hot Zone.

Internal Warfare
Chapter One: Marburg

"No Mary," President Richards of the ESUN said to his personal assistant on the phone from bed, "I'm not feeling well. Please reschedule my meeting." James Richards rested his head once again on his pillow as he listened to the click of the phone as he hung it up. He put two pills in his mouth and with a loud gulp, swallowed them. The throbbing pain behind his eyeballs didn't seem to be hindered by the drugs he had put into his body. He regretted rescheduling this meeting, these matters NEEDED to be discussed immediately, but he couldn't seem to get rid of this awful headache.

Dr. Heero Yuy, scientist in charge of Biohazard Level 4 viruses at USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases), took a deep breath as he continued in his retelling of the recent events to the ESUN delegates. He wore a white lab coat and black slacks. His dark brown, unruly hair covered most of his face, but, if you looked carefully, you could see his prussian blue eyes sparkling like gems underneath. For a moment he made eye contact with Miss Relena Peacecraft, then looked back at the papers before him, and grasped the podium firmly. He wiped the sweat from his brow and began to speak once again. "As the day grew on, his headache grew worse. His eyeballs ached, and then his temples began to ache, the pain seeming to circle around inside his head. And then came the severe backache.

On the third day after this headache started, he became nauseated, spiked a fever, and began to vomit. His vomiting grew intense and turned into dry heaves. At the same time, he became strangely passive. His face lost all appearance of life and set itself into an expressionless mask, with the eyeballs fixed, paralytic, and staring. His eyelids were slightly droopy, which gave him a peculiar appearance, as if his eyes were popping out of his head and half-closed at the same time. The eyeballs themselves seemed to be almost frozen in their sockets, and they turned bright red. The skin of his face turned yellowish, with brilliant starlike red speckles. He began to look like a zombie. He became sullen, resentful, angry, and his memory seemed to be blown away. He was not delirious. He could answer the housekeeper's questions, although he didn't seem to know exactly where he was.

"After a few days, Mary Kingly, his assistant, started to worry. She went to his house and immediately advised him to go to see a doctor. She drove him to the small town's hospital. But being such a small place, with no real capabilities, the doctors there could come up with no explanation. They advised him to go to the large hospital in New Port City, in the Sank Kingdom for treatment. Before he left, thinking this could be some bacterial infection, they gave him injections of antibiotics, but the antibiotics had no effect on his illness. Although he was most definitely ill, his case didn't seem to be critical. They told Mary not to worry, just put him on a plane. He was still competent enough to tell a cab driver where to go. And with that Mary drove him to the airport. The small hospital tried to contact the major hospital in New Port City, but all the lines were in use, so they decided he would be fine, and left it at that.

"His plane took off and headed for New Port City. It was a small airport, so the only plane traveling there was stopping just about everywhere in Europe first, it would seem. So the plane ride took about twenty-four hours all together. As the plane hit the sky, and the ground disappeared, Richards became airsick. He hunched over in his seat, and held the airsickness bag over his mouth. He coughed a deep cough and regurgitated something into the bag. The bag swelled up. He glanced around, his lips smeared with something slippery and red, mixed with black specks, as if he had been chewing coffee grounds. His eyes are now the color of rubies, and his face is an expressionless mass of bruises. The red spots, which a few days before had started out as starlike speckles, have expanded and merged into huge, spontaneous purple shadows. His whole head was turning black-and-blue. The muscles of his face drooped. The connective tissue in his face dissolving, and his face appears to hang from the underlying bone, as if the face has detached itself from the skull. He opened his mouth and gasped into the bag, and the vomiting went on endlessly. It did not stop, and he kept bringing up liquid, long after his stomach should have been empty. The airsickness bag fills up to the brim with a substance known as vomito negro, or the black vomit. The black vomit is not really black, it is a speckled liquid of two colors, black and red, a stew of tarry granules mixed with fresh arterial blood. It is a hemorrhage, and it smells like a slaughterhouse. The black vomit is loaded with virus. It is highly infective, lethally hot ("Hot" as it is used in this story does not refer to actual temperature, but rather, lethally infected.), a liquid that would scare the daylights out of a military biohazard specialist. The airsickness bag is brimming with black vomit, so Richards closed the bag and rolls up the top. The bag is bulging and softening, threatening to leak, and he hands it to a flight attendant." Heero pauses in his speech to breathe in deeply again, he has noticed that many members of the ESUN had begun to squirm in their seats with his retelling of what happened just three days before.

He glanced in the direction of the Vice Foreign Minister Relena Peacecraft once more, and the four men next to her, three former Gundam Pilots and one older brother. Quatre was on the other side of the room with the colony delegates. Heero continued, "When a hot virus multiplies in a host, it can saturate the body with virus particles, from the brain to skin. The military experts then say that the virus has undergone 'extreme amplification.' This is not something like the common cold. By the time an extreme amplification peaks out, an eyedropper of the victim's blood may contain a hundred million particle of virus. During this process, the body is partly transformed into virus particles. In other words, the host is possessed by a life form that is attempting to convert the host into itself. The transformation is not entirely successful, however, and the end result is a great deal of liquefying flesh mixed with virus, a kind of biological accident. Extreme amplification had occurred in Richards, and the sign of it is the black vomit.

"At this point, he appears to be rigid, as if any movement would rupture something inside him. His blood is clotting up; his bloodstream is throwing clots, and the clots are lodging everywhere. His liver, kidneys, lungs, hands, feet, and head are becoming jammed with blood clots. In effect, he is having a stroke through the whole body. Clots are accumulating in his intestinal muscles, cutting off the blood supply to his intestines. The intestinal muscle is beginning to die, and the intestines are starting to go slack. He doesn't seem to be fully aware of pain any longer because the blood clots lodged in his brain are cutting off blood flow. His personality is being wiped away by brain damage. This is called depersonalization, in which the liveliness and details of character seem to vanish. He is becoming an automation. Tiny spots in his brain are liquefying. The higher functions of consciousness are winking out first, leaving the deeper parts of the brain stem (the primitive rat brain, and lizard brain) still alive and functioning. It could be said that the who of President Richards had already died while the what of President Richards continued to live.

"The vomiting attack appears to have broken some blood vessels in his nose and he gets a nosebleed. The blood comes from both nostrils, a shining, clotless, arterial liquid that drips over his teeth and chin. This blood keeps running, because the clotting factors have been used up. A flight attendant gives him some paper towels, which he uses to stop up his nose, but the blood still won't coagulate, and the towels soak through. Finally, Richards slumped back in his seat and appeared to be dozing, though his red eyes move slightly around the cabin.

"The plane finally landed in New Port City, Richards stirred himself. He is still able to walk. He stands up, dripping, and stumbles off the plane, his shirt a red mess. He carries no luggage. His only luggage is internal, and it is a load of amplified virus. Richards has been transformed into a human virus bomb. He gets a taxi and is brought to the hospital.

"The sign on the door said CASUALTY DEPT. He moved to the reception window and indicated that he is very ill. He had great difficulty speaking.

"The man is bleeding, and they will admit him in just a moment. He must wait until a doctor can be called, but the doctor will see him immediately, not to worry." Heero commented sarcastically, earning himself a glare from the department head of the New Port City General Hospital. He ignored the glaring man and continued. "So, he sits down in the waiting room. Suddenly, Richards goes into the last phase; the human virus bomb explodes. Military biohazard specialists have ways of describing this occurrence. They say that the victim has 'crashed and bled out.' Or more politely they say that the victim has 'gone down.'

"Richards becomes dizzy and utterly weak, and his spine goes limp and nerveless and he loses all sense of balance. He is going into shock. He leans over, head on his knees, and brings up an incredible quantity of blood from his stomach and spills it onto the floor with a gasping groan. He loses consciousness and pitches forward onto the floor. The only sound is a choking in his throat as he continues to vomit blood and black matter while unconscious. Then comes a sound like a bed sheet being torn in half, which is the sound of his bowels opening and venting blood from the anus. The blood is mixed with intestinal lining. He has sloughed his gut. The linings of his intestines have come off and are being expelled along with huge amounts of blood. Richards has crashed and is bleeding out.

"Pools of blood spread out around him, enlarging rapidly. Having destroyed its host, the hot agent is now coming out of every orifice, and is 'trying' to find a new host." Heero paused again and swallowed deeply. The room had become incredibly quiet and a pin could have been heard by all, had anyone dared to drop one. Heero continued with a brief explanation of what happened next, "The doctor that treated him, Angus Filmore, also caught the virus. Most likely he will die. President James Richards of the ESUN died at 2:30AM on July 8 of this year AC 203." As Heero paused again a slow and uneasy hand was raised. Heero looked and with a small start, discovered the hand belonged to former Gundam Pilot Quatre Winner, now colony diplomat. "Yes Mr. Winner?"

Quatre took a moment to stand, "What virus is this?"

"It is called Marburg for the city in Germany in which it first appeared. It is of the family filovirus and has two sisters, both strains of Ebola, Ebola Zaire and Ebola Sudan. Ebola Zaire, is the worst of the three and Marburg is called, 'the gentle sister'. If it is caught early, and the victim brought to the hospital and hooked up to life support machines, the chance of survival is still only 1 in 4. That means only one quarter of the people infected by Marburg survive." Heero kept his eyes trained on Quatre. Quatre nodded his head, signaling that his question had been answered.

Another diplomat stood, not bothering to wait his turn, "How did he transmit the virus?" he yelled.

"A joint investigation into that is going on as we speak, Preventers and some of my men as USAMRIID are working together to find that out. Most outbreaks in the past have been linked to primates who were infected. But, the President didn't seen to have any contact with primates." Heero replied as generally as possible.

"Are you ruling out the possibility of this being a form of biological warfare?" Someone else yelled.

"We aren't ruling anything out," Heero replied. That did it, the room erupted into argument and whispering. Heero stood there and watched with disgust.

Relena Peacecraft stared down at him from her seat. Caught deep in thoughts of how much he had changed, and thoughts of another war. She wiped back a tear and stood. As the people around her noticed that the Princess of the Sank Kingdom had something to say, they quieted. In fact, in a matter of moments, the entire congress was absolutely silent again. "What happed just three short days ago was a tragedy. No one should jump to any conclusions. How paranoid you have all become. I expect, Dr. Yuy, that you and your co-workers are doing all they can?" Heero nodded, "Than that's more than enough to satisfy me," and with that, she sat back down.

Vice President of the ESUN Charles Montgomery, moved in front of Heero at the podium. "If there are no more questions, then you are dismissed."

In a slow flood of footsteps, the assembly cleared out. All except for Relena, her brother and the four former Gundam pilots. They all stood and walked to where Heero now stood.

"Fowl play?" Trowa asked simply when they reached him, everyone else remained silent. Heero nodded.

"I know who, just not why yet. Once I find out, it will all be over," he said quietly.


((Author's note: I followed closely the chain of event in the book, The Hot Zone, because I had to have the timing right for an accurate description of Marburg. The Hot Zone, is a true story, therefor, the virus really exists and that is what happens to those who are infected. I'm reading the book for my Agri-Science class so if anyone has any questions just e-mail me at Littta1984@aol.com and they will be answered. The next chapters will not be graphic like this and do not follow the book. The good romance stuff starts later.))


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jenn Lynne on 2002-05-02 17:28 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jenn Lynne on 2002-05-02 17:31 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jenn Lynne on 2002-05-02 17:38 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jenn Lynne on 2002-05-11 09:35 ]</font>

[Jenn Lynne]

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing, and I do not claim to. So Don't sue.

Author's note: This chapter is not like chapter one, it does not contain that sort of graphic content. Although here is where the fluff starts. Heero is OOC, but I did that on purpose.

Internal Warfare

Chapter 2: An Unbearable Burden

Relena stared at the red oak table she was sitting at, bored out of her mind. Around the table were Duo, who stared intently at a laptop screen, Trowa, who like her was bored and staring at the ceiling, and Quatre who was drinking tea, also staring off into oblivion. A light breeze blew through the open window, it made Relena's golden hair gently lift from the table, then fall back down. She looked up for a moment, and scanned the room, taking a moment to pause and look at each person sitting with her carefully, then back at the table. A commotion slowly arose from the hall. The sound of voices echoing off the walls as they approach. Nearer and nearer the voices came until they entered the room. Everyone in the room looked up, even Duo who had been staring at that screen for hours.

As they entered the room each became silent. Wufie entered first and sat next to Trowa, across from Relena. Then, Heero entered, still in the same cloths from the conference yesterday. He looked pail, as though he had not slept in a few days. He sat between Relena and Quatre, on her right. Then entered Milliardo, Relena's older brother. He slowly sat himself on Relena's other side, drooping slightly in his seat, but continuing to glare at Heero through the corner of his eye. Everyone remained quiet for a moment until Pagan entered with tea for all. Each took a glass gladly.

"It would be so much easier if you would just tell us who is behind this, Yuy." Milliardo broke the silence after a moment.

Relena turned her head toward Heero to see if his expression would change, it didn't, but she saw his hand begin to tremble.

Apparently he had noticed it too, he quickly put the tea down and moved his hand to his lap. Relena looked around, but it appeared as though she had been the only one to see it.

"The burden of truth will be mine alone." Heero stated calmly. Relena reached her hand over and gently took his trembling hand in her own. He didn't pull away for a moment, just squeezed back, then abruptly pulled away as though he had realized his laps in judgement. Relena returned her hand to her own lap, defeated, but continued to look at him.

"But maybe you can't handle something of this much importance alone." Duo said, a serious expression on his face. "This affects the whole world Heero, not just your little science department."

Heero's head looked up and he gave Duo a dangerous looking glare. "I'm aware of that Maxwell, but what if you found where they're hiding this instead of me. Would you know how to transport it? Or destroy it? If you don't know what your doing this stuff is LETHAL. And it is my duty alone to take those kind of risks." He looked away. And under his breath, in a voice barely audible, but was heard by all, he said, "I will atone for this sin, alone."

********

Relena couldn't sleep; it was nearly two in the morning and still her eyes refused to shut. The soft glow from the moon cascaded over her as she stood, finally tired of lying down with out sleeping. She sighed aloud. "May God have mercy on us all, through these hard times." she prayed quietly. She decided a walk in the garden would do her good. The garden always helped to clear her head, and she knew that whenever she talked to God, things were worse off than she allowed others to believe. As she exited the house she closed her eyes as the cool breeze washed over her. As she stepped onto the grass in her bare feet, she reveled in the feeling of the dampness of it. He silky gown bellowed around her as she spun in the moonlight her head tilted upward. She stopped spinning and headed into the garden, finding her way to where the path was lined with lilacs. She loved lilacs and spent a lot of time here in silent contemplation. Many had inquired about her unique perfume that smelled so wonderful of lilac. As she looked along the path she saw someone in the small clearing by the pond. She could only see the faint outline of a man, as that was all that the moon would permit. She walked cautiously up the path, approaching the figure slowly. Upon reaching the edge of the clearing she could see him better. His back was to her, and he hadn't seemed to sense her presence, his hands though not clenched, trembled. She heard a choking sound. The sound one makes when sorrow overcomes you. He fell to his knees as his entire body began to tremble and he began to sob into the hand he managed to move to his face. Relena forgot her self in that moment and ran to the man and took one knee in front of him. As he brought his tear-streaked eyes to her, she wanted to make all the sorrow go away. It was Heero. The man with no feelings was sobbing freely and seemed to be unable to stop even now that she had made her presence to him known. In an instant he wrapped his arms around her neck and cried into her hair. She heard herself choke and begin to cry for him. She stroked his back in a comforting manner as she wrapped her arms around him. He responded by burying his face further into her hair and sobbing louder, comfortable in her care.

After a while, his sobbing quieted and his grip slacked as his muscles relaxed and the trembling stopped. Relena felt her heart cry out when he pulled away from her, she wanted to stay in his arms longer, though only an instant later, she was already longing to be back in contact with him. He wiped the tears from his eyes harshly, and looked at her through clear vision. He reached his hand out, and in the lightest of touches, wiped her tears away as well. He did not break eye contact with her or move at all. After a moment he spoke. His voice ragged from his crying, "Thank you." he whispered, voice breaking slightly. At this she wanted to cry again but she held her face firm, nodding silently. He slowly stood and took her hand into his own. The sun had just begun to rise and a golden glow washed over both of them. He led her back to the mansion and to her room. He opened her door for her but did not enter. She walked slowly around him and into her room. Then she turned to face him.

"Goodnight." he said in a whispered tone, but not as ragged as before. He brought his hand to her face for a moment and stroked her cheek. Slowly he moved closer to her, taking a step into her room. His lips touched hers so lightly at first that she had barely been able to feel it, but after a moment had gotten slightly deeper. She had never known him to be so gentle. Her hands found his back again and she pulled him closer. He didn't protest and leaned in, deepening the kiss still. Then slowly again, he began to pull away, her head screamed out for him but she stood still, letting him turn around and walk away without a word. She took a deep breath and smiled as a tear formed in her eyes. She turned around and shut the door. Soon she was asleep, having found a new peace to sustain her. It was now nearly five in the morning and even though she knew she would get no more than two hours of sleep, she would enjoy the sweet dreams she knew would come.

*******

The pounding on her door woke her up suddenly. Relena stretched as she sat up in bed and glanced at her clock. Whoever was at the door continued to slam their fist against it as he yelled her name. The clack read 11:08 ((AN: That's my lunchtime at school. lol)). She was shocked. "But oh, what a nice dream." She whispered softly as she got out of bed and opened the door. Her brother stood on the other side of it, completely red in the face with screaming. "Good morning Milliardo." She said with a yawn.

"Well good morning to you too missy." He said, calming himself. "You missed four meetings already before someone told me you weren't at work." He walked over to her as she gazed out the window in silence. He looked at her questioningly for a moment, then placed his hand on her shoulder. This seemed to knock her out of her reverie.

"Oh, I'm sorry Milliardo, what were you saying?" she asked her cheeks stained red for a moment with embarrassment.

He sighed, "There was a very important reason why I had called your office looking for you Relena."

"And what would that be?" her attention immediately and fully was on her brother.

"I wanted to know if you knew where Heero was." He said quietly. "He wasn't here when I awoke this morning and I called his associates at USAMRIID, none of his staff has shown up for work today."

She got a far off look in her eye as her chest began to ache. Something was wrong and she could feel it. "I have no idea." She said, making eye contact with him again. "Why were you looking for him?"

Milliardo looked around to make sure no one else was in earshot, then he leaned in and whispered, "Because Colony representative Starlen has just crashed and bled out this morning."

**********

Heero awoke in a cold place. He was lying on the ground, which seemed to be made of cold stone. He did not open his eyes, or show any sign of being awake. He wasn't alone in this room. He could hear the soft breathing of three others. Two, he could tell, were awake. They were whispering as softly as they could. But still, their voices echoed off the walls. He could tell that one was male, and on was female. The third was either still unconscious, or chose not to talk. He opened one eye slightly. Looking through his eyelashes. The room was dark, though it had a light fixture hanging from the ceiling. He recognized the three people immediately. The two awake were Carol Hews and Samuel Decon, and the third was Robert Kent. These three were his team at USAMRIID.

Author's Note: Cliffhanger! I love reviews, so go ahead and write something, even if it's criticism.

[goddesswing]

Your cliffhanger is just KILLING me. I need the next chapter now~! Its very good. ^_^

+::goddesswing::+

[Jenn Lynne]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, and I don't claim to own it or its characters.

Author's Note: Thank you goddesswing for reviewing. Inspiration is key. And you have inspired me to post this chapter quicker than I had planned.

Internal Warfare
Chapter 3: Gage

Relena put her hands over her mouth as she gasped. Another ESUN member had died of the Marburg virus. This was not looking good. And where had Heero gone? Her heart sank with the news of Starlen's death, he was a good man, with a wife, and a child on the way. His wife, Emmalynn and herself had gotten along quite well, and Relena had found herself, on several occasions looking for Emmalynn at parties trying to get away from the stuffy bureaucrats. Poor Emmalynn, she thought.

She moved back to her bed and sat down. Placing her hands on the crisp sheets beside her. Though only moments ago, those sheets had felt so warm and comforting, now they were cold and hard, and promised no warmth. She shook her head slowly, clearing her thoughts. Thinking clearly was important now. Think Relena think. Was there anything that President Richards and Kale Starlen where working on together? No matter how hard she thought, she seemed to only draw a blank. Milliardo stood before her, watching her every move closely. He knew she was trying to think of a connection, and he knew that if anyone could find one, it would be her. And Heero. What does his disappearance have to do with this? Does it have to do with this? She decided to put the disappearance of Heero and his team out of her mind, for the moment.

She looked up at Milliardo, "Has Lady Une or the other Gundam Pilots come up with any hypothesis yet?" Milliardo shook his head. Relena looked at the floor again. After a moment she sighed, and looked up at Milliardo once more. "Here's what's going to happen. First, I'm going to call up Emmalynn Starlen and convey my sorrow for the loss of her husband, and after that, you and I are going to Preventer Headquarters. We need to find a connection between Richards and Starlen before someone else winds up dead. Also, when is Vice President Montgomery having the other ESUN delegates debriefed?"

"At noon tomorrow." He paused to look at her, "We are going to have a panic on our hands. Especially with Heero and his team missing."

*******

Megan Thomson was an Army intern at USAMRIID, training to be a veterinarian. She drove down a Virginia highway, it was now about 12:15pm. She past a familiar sign, the road leading to Reston, home of the infamous Reston Monkey house, which once contained the Ebola strain Reston. There wasn't a soul at USAMRIID who didn't know about Reston. She passed the sign every morning on her long drive to Frederick, Maryland and Fort Detrick where The Institute as it was called, was located. The traffic began to get thicker as she drove through the lunch hour crowd. She glanced in her back seat. There, sitting quietly, almost deadly quiet in it's cage was her personal pet monkey Gage. She had gotten Gage last spring from one of USAMRIID's leading scientists Charles J. Yesterday, Gage had stopped eating, and started to look funny. She had called Dr. Charles J and told him of Gage's symptoms. His eyes half open and staring, his face drooping and the small amounts of blood from his nose. She was very worried for her pet, so she moved into the fast lane and picked up speed. He confused her, because Dr. J had just given Gage a check up just 10 days before and given him an injection of something. He shouldn't be sick. She slammed on her brakes suddenly as the car in front of her came to a quick stop. "Damn." She cursed aloud as her coffee spilled onto her hand. She looked back at Gage, he seemed completely unaffected. She shrugged it off and continued on her way to The Institute.

******

Heero finally decided to sit up. When he did Hews and Decon immediately became silent and moved over to sit with him. Carol Hews was older than him, but lower in rank, she was a lieutenant and was very good in a Chemturion Space Suit (Pressurized, heavy-duty biological space suit used in bio safety Level 4 containment areas. Also known as a blue suit because it is bright blue.). She has soft hazel eyes and ash colored hair. Her expressions were rarely harsh, and she usually took a motherly persona toward her younger commander. Constantly nagging him about the right way to handle any given situation. Sam Decon, on the other hand, was too jumpy in the cramped suits, and his hands were too quick. Heero rarely worked directly with Decon in space suits because Decon's quick hands made him nervous. But Decon was the best at using an Electron Microscope of his team, so Heero accepted him. Decon ranked one below Carol and was twice Heero's age. Decon's hair was black, or once was, now it had streaks of premature gray through it. He, on a job two years ago in Morocco, had seen the affects of Marburg first hand on its citizens. After that, he had never worked directly with it. Robert Kent, the man still asleep, was a bookworm who was really no use in the bio safety level four. However, his knowledge was astounding, even to Heero, and Heero knew, if there was ever something he didn't know, he was sure Kent would. Kent was Heero's second in command, he was a year younger than Heero and looked up to him. Heero had taken a liking to the young genius and had taken him under his wing when he first got his job at the institute. Kent had light brown hair and compassionate gray-green eyes. He kept his hair shortly trimmed, but not military looking. He and Heero got along very well, and Kent started to look at Heero as an older brother. Heero was always willing to get him out of trouble. As most older brothers would, or so he had heard.

"Sir do you have any idea what's going on?" Hews asked.

Heero looked around the room a moment. "Your guess is as good as mine. I'd say we are being contained to stop our research." he lied. He knew they wouldn't understand the truth. Only he and Kent knew the truth, and then again, Kent didn't know the whole truth. Besides, he had more important things to worry about.

At that very moment Kent awoke with a start, sitting straight up with his eyes wide open. "Where? what? how??" He mumbled nearly incoherently. He looked around, then made eye contact with Heero. For some reason this calmed him greatly and he slowly moved to sit beside the other three. He nodded to Heero and a silent understanding passed between the two.

"I thought so." Heero replied back to Kent's nonverbal message. Kent's eyes moved around the room.

"The only way out of the room is through the main door. The hall is white, lined with nothing. It goes down to the left only about eight or nine feet before turning right. It goes down to the right a lot longer, I've never been down that way. They used to take me down the left corridor, to the right then down another long hallway into a room with big metal doors. That is where the leader, as I knew him, stayed." Kent replied with a strange kind of accuracy. It had been nearly a year since he had been in this place, and his memory was astounding. Hews and Decon looked at him strangely. A thousand and one questions could be seen swirling behind their eyes. Heero chose to ignore them and addressed Kent.

"And when they let you go, where did they take you then?" Heero asked searching the room with his eyes.

"Out of that room through a back door to an elevator. Up three floors and then we were in what appeared to be some sort of old hanger. There I was put into a jeep. Outside the hanger was a sloppy looking runway that had been overrun with plants. We turned right onto a small bumpy dirt road into woods. That's when they rendered me unconscious." He stated the whole thing very matter-of-factly, it was as though he had told the story a million times and this was just another normal occasion.

"Would someone please tell US what?s going on." Decon asked, finally speaking up.

Kent's eyes flickered to him momentarily. But he said nothing. Heero spoke however, without turning to them, "Let's just say Kent has been captive here once before and I was instrumental in his release. That's all you need to know right now."

Hews turned to Kent, "Why were you being held here?"

Kent shrugged his shoulders, "They never told me. They wanted something from Heero, I assume he gave it to them because they let me go." It appeared as though Kent did not share Heero's thoughts on not telling the others about this. He sighed.

"What did they want?" Hews asked, suddenly very superior.

Heero shrunk at the question, she was definitely a dominant person and when she got angry, even he knew to stay away. "They wanted a sample of Marburg blood from the emergence in southern Morocco two years ago."

The room was silent, not even Kent had known about that. Hews looked as though she was going to be sick, Decon looked as though he was going to faint and Kent just looked sad.

"It was my sin that caused everything that's going on now. I forgot about the need of the many and put the world in danger. Listen I know this is a lot to take in and you all probably hate me now, but I'm going to need all of you to help me stop Montgomery." Heero said, finally letting out that final lump in his heart from what he had done. And now a new one formed, one that dreaded failure.

"You mean Vice President of the ESUN Montgomery?" Hews said with a gulp of air.

"Yeah." Heero said quietly.

"The investigation? that's why?" Kent said mostly to himself.

"What investigation, what are you talking about?" Heero asked confused.

*********

General Kenneth Powl looked through the file on Vice President Charles Montgomery again. He could either be defined as a hero or a murderer, and it was General Powl's job to decide which. Kenneth Powl was the commanding officer at Fort Detrick and hadn't left his office in two days, studying this file non-stop, but still this investigation was going painfully slow. Especially now the Richards was dead.
There was a soft knock on his office door. "Come in." His base voice boomed in the large office. It was strained with lack of sleep and frustration. The door opened slowly and in walked Megan Thompson, his niece. In her hand was a cage carrying her pet monkey Gage.

"Uncle Kenny, can you watch Gage for me while I go find Dr. J. Gage has been acting funny and I don't want to leave him in my car while I go into a level 3 containment area to find the doctor." She asked sweetly.
Powl smiled at his niece, she was obviously worried about her pet. "Okay dear, I'll watch him. You go find Dr. J." Megan nodded her thanks and retreated from the room. Leaving Gage on the floor by the general's desk. General Powl got out of his seat and took a knee beside the cage. Gage's eyes didn't move at all, but the monkey stocked over to the door. It did it in a manner that was almost routine, automatic. Powl opened the cage door and picked up the small monkey in his right hand.
All of the sudden, the door swung open and banged against the wall. Powl jumped up, his grip on the small monkey tightening. Gage squealed at the sudden onset of pain, it was the first thing he had really reacted to in hours. His immediate reaction was to bite Powl as hard as he could. Powl yelled as blood streamed down his arm and Gage dropped to the floor. Once the monkey landed he slumped onto the ground, ceasing movement. The lieutenant at the door held his hand over his mouth. He rushed to the general and held his wrist firmly, putting pressure on the wound. Powl and the lieutenant looked down at Gage, he lay almost lifeless on the floor. A small puddle of blood was slowly spreading out around him, either from his biting or something else. The blood was very thin, and he twitched and trembled in his conscious unconsciousness.

Powl turned to the lieutenant and removed his hand from his wrist, replacing it with his own. "What did you want?" he asked.
The lieutenant was startled by the question, thinking the general's injury and the semi-conscious monkey lying on the ground would be more important. "Pardon my intrusion general," he said, remembering himself, "but Dr. McCormick asked me to get you. He said it was urgent."

Powl nodded, "I leave it up to you to get the nearest vet in here to look at my niece's pet. I will get a tetanus from Dr. McCormick just in case." The lieutenant nodded and left the room. Powl sighed, looking down at the monkey and leaning over him, stroking his fur lightly. "You'll be okay Gage, the vet is on his way."


((Author's note: Yes, and the plot continues to thicken. Gage is actually the name of my friend's dog, but I wanted to name the monkey after her Gage. If you have ever seen Outbreak, Gage is one of those kinds of monkeys. Anyway, Read and Review PLEASE! I Love to hear from you guys.))

[Jenn Lynne]

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing and do not claim to.

Author's Note: Umm? Enjoy! The 1xR stuff will come back in later, don't you worry.

Internal Warfare

Chapter 4: The Investigation

By the time Relena, Milliardo and Lucrezia arrived at Preventers' headquarters all the Gundam Pilots, with the exception of Heero, had been gathered along with Lady Une. When the three entered the private meeting room, all talk ceased.

Relena looked expectantly at each Gundam Pilot, "Did anyone find out anything?" she asked almost desperately. The color around her eyes was a soft shade of pink telling the story of the tears she had shed for Emmalynn Starlen over the phone.

"No connection between Starlen and Richards, and absolutely no sign of Heero and his team." Wufie said with a frustrated sigh.

"There were no signs of forced entry at any of the homes of the missing, however," Trowa paused, bringing attention to the next part, "while looking through the house of Heero's associate, Thomas Kent, I found signs of a struggle. This leads me to believe that Heero and his team were abducted."

The knot in Relena's stomach twisted in a way that was so painful she thought she would pass out. Apparently, the look on her face did not hide this, for Quatre gently, but quickly, took her hand and led her to a seat in which he promptly pushed her down. Everyone stared at her for a moment with expressions of sorrow and understanding. All that Relena could think about was Heero. What possible danger is he in, what chance that he could be dead or dying, or infected with Marburg by some Satan worshiping asshole who they had no clues of which would aid them in finding. She lowered her eyes and a few stray tears streaked down her face. She closed her eyes tightly. Come on Relena, snap out of it, you need to be strong. Lives depend on you. Heero's life depends on you. Pick your self up and be a diplomat and keep your cool. Relena harshly wiped her tears away with a deep breath and opened her eyes. Looking up she made her chin parallel to the floor and stood on firm unwavering legs.

"Well, what are you all standing around here for, you have to find the connection between Richards and Starlen and you have to find Heero. I have a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and I'll try and find out anything I can from him." Swiftly she turned around and left the room. The occupants of the room took no delay in following her instructions.

Quatre paused for a moment and looked out the window at the sky. "Wherever you are Heero, I hope your having more luck than we are."

********

"Thomas!" Heero nearly yelled. Kent knew that when Heero referred to him by his first name it meant business. He snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at him. "What investigation?" Heero asked calmly, once again controlling his voice.

Kent cleared his throat, "Montgomery is also a scientist as you may or may not already know?"

He was then cut off by Decon, "Yes, I worked with him during the Morocco emergence of Marburg."

"Yes! Exactly." Kent said.

"Exactly what?" Hews asked.

"President Richards and a few other select members of the ESUN hierarchy were organizing an investigation into his handling of the emergence there." Kent went on.

"Oh!" Heero replied, very knowingly. The other two looked at him as though they didn't get it, so he elaborated. "I'm sure you know, Decon, that Montgomery signed an order that signed the death warrants of thousands of Moroccan citizens, whether they were sick or not is unknown. No one to this day knows the truth and Richards must have been checking it out."

"He was." Said Kent, "He organized the investigation along with five others, "General Powl down at the Institute, and ESUN Big Whigs, Kale Starlen, Susan Drypher, Lyle Arc, and oh damn, what was that last name?"

Heero's heart caught in his throat for a moment, but his calm persona held, "Was it, Relena Peacecraft?"

"No, Miss Peacecraft was kept out of it because she was never involved in the emergence in the first place, but it was umm?. Damn what was that man's name?"

Everyone stared expectantly at Kent for a few moments, then his shoulders rose in an expression of giving up. Heero glared at him for a moment, then stood. "The first thing we have to do is get out of this room."

"But how?" Kent asked, "I assure you that the door is quite solid and?"

He faded off as Heero walked to the back wall, than ran toward the door and soared through the air, right foot first, kicking the door firmly in the center. The door broke on its hinges and slammed against the wall opposite it. Heero landed skillfully and turned to the others, "Coming?"

*******

General Powl entered the office of Doctor McCormick with a new bandage wrapped around his wrist. Dr. McCormick looked at it quizzically, "My niece's pet bit me just a minute ago, do you think you can give me a tetanus shot?"

"Sure." The doctor walked over to one of the shelves lined against the white walls and retrieved a vile of yellow colored liquid and a hypodermic syringe. Slowly he drew some of the yellow liquid into the clear glass tube of the syringe, letting it drip off the end when he was done, he cleared the tube of any air bubbles. He took Powl's arm and rubbed the crook of his elbow with antiseptic and slowly pushed the needle in. He drew forth the needle from Powl's arms and rubbed the spot with antiseptic a second time while disposing of the syringe in a sharps bin.

"I called you here in regards to Doctor Charles J." McCormick said after a moment. Powl's eyes widened in shock.

"What about Dr. J?" Powl asked his voice wavering slightly.

"He has gone missing." McCormick said carefully, "I have reason to believe he has something to do with this new emergence of Marburg amongst ESUN delegates. As you know, all telephone lines to and from this institute are tapped, well, I found several telephone calls placed from Dr. J's office to the office of Vice President Montgomery."

*********

Relena was led into the large office of Vice President of ESUN Charles Montgomery. Montgomery stood, his brown eyes fixed on the young women. He did not smile, but extended his hand to her.

"Miss Peacecraft," he began, "Have the Preventers come up with any leads."

"No, not yet." She replied as Montgomery's assistant entered with a pot of coffee and two cups. He was a large man and leaned over Relena to pour coffee for her. She was nervous about his presence but remain quiet.

"I'm afraid, Miss Peacecraft, that when the other ESUN delegates hear of Starlen's death and the disappearance of Dr. Heero Yuy and his team" Relena's heart beat ten times faster at the mention of Heero's disappearance, she played nervously with the cup in her hand. "there will be a panic. And I also have the misfortune of being the one to inform you that ESUN representative Angus Lucre, has died just a few hours ago."

Relena's eyes widened. Not Angus too. Angus was a chubby short old man who was jolly and cheerful when times were good and confident that times would get better when they weren't. "Well," Relena said regaining her diplomatic stance, "I will talk to the delegates myself, they seem to calm when I reassure them of my own confidence that we will find the perpetrator behind all of this."

Montgomery resisted the urge to smile, "I'm afraid Miss Peacecraft that you will not be at tomorrow's meeting to reassure the other delegates."

"What do you mean?" Relena asked. Montgomery's assistant approached from behind her and hit her in the head with a hard metal object. Relena's world faded to black as she fell unconscious.

"Now," Montgomery addressed his assistant, "go and knock out her limo driver and ditch the car, no slip ups this time."

((A/N: I know, don't you just love me when I do things like this. This abduction of Relena thing is new to me too, so we'll see how it turns out ne! I would like to say again that I LOVE reviews.))

[Angeldreams]

I really like where you are going with this. Can't wait for a new chapter!

[Jenn Lynne]

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or its characters and I don't claim to.

((Author's Note: I just want to thank Angeldreams for the nice review?))

Internal Warfare

Chapter 5: Interrogating Heero

The sun seeped gloomily over the misty horizon as Heero, Kent, Hews and Decon, made there way down a seemingly endless road in a stolen jeep. The road, which had at first been surrounded by thick, dense forest, had drawn back and was now streaming endlessly through fields of long yellow grass. The yellow grass and the gloomy sunrise added to the somber mood in the vehicle. At present no one was talking, and the only one not mad at Heero was Kent, who seemed incapable of being so. Heero himself seemed not to care, but was deeply immersed in his own thoughts.
Finally, Hews spoke, "Who are you?" she said addressing the question at Heero.
He didn't sigh, or hesitate. At this point his mind was definitely off the subject of 'Who are you?'. "I'm was a Preventer. Formerly the Gundam Pilot zero one. Known as the Perfect Soldier." He stated with an absence of thought that was eerie. There was an absence of emotion as well that would have made the statement more disconcerting, however, by simply looking into his eyes one could tell he was feeling something. The look on his face screamed frustration, frustration with the whole situation or frustration with himself, it was anyone's guess. There was another look too, a look only picked up by Kent. He could tell that Heero was greatly saddened by something, and desired to know the reason why.
"What's wrong?" He questioned with a quiet assertion of power and authority, demanding that Heero answer. Heero's eyes flickered to Kent quickly, then back to the road. "Why do you have a look of such extreme sadness?"
Heero nearly veered off the road at the question. Have I become that transparent, he thought. He opted not to argue with Kent, and chose to tell him the real truth behind his sadness and utter disappointment in himself. "I have killed many men," he began, "my hands have been stained with an immense amount of blood that will never come clean. But right after the Mariemaia incident, in fact at the very end of it after the gun fell from my hand, I made a vow that I will never kill again. I said that I didn't have to anymore. That's why I turned to science, save lives instead of destroying them. And how many lives now have I destroyed now?" He paused again.
Hews' eyes softened, she had been very angry with Heero since she found out of his surrender of Marburg blood. But no longer, he was punishing himself enough for her. "It's not your fault this time Heero. Like the saying goes, 'Guns don't kill people, people kill people.' All you did was supply the weapon, the drive to use it was all Montgomery's."
Heero smiled sarcastically, "A person cannot easily kill with their bare hands, excluding myself from this example, but when supplied with a weapon, they are more apt to kill, because it becomes easier. I should not have given such a deadly weapon to such a weak person."
"Weak." Decon almost yelled, "The man seems quite powerful to me."
Heero resisted the urge to laugh. "He is weak of character, not of power. Power is a result of cruelty, which is a result of weakness, therefor, those who are powerful are most always weak. One would not define a person such as Miss Relena Peacecraft as being powerful, because that statement negates her strength of character. One would describe her only as influential, in order to convey her properly." Heero stated very calmly. It seemed to ease his pain to talk about Relena's strength. The very thought of her lifted his spirit.
Somehow, Kent saw this. He chose not to say anything at that moment, but had every intention of bringing the subject forward at a more appropriate time.
"I suppose you could also define her as courageous. That's why people follow her." Hews commented.
Heero smiled almost contently for a moment, "Courage is not why people follow her. They follow her because her nature is soft and honest, she is a good person who has a general care for everyone, a quality lacking in the lazy bureaucrats of today."
This time Kent couldn't remain silent, that look on Heero's face and smile of contentment was too much. "It was rumored," he began, "that she had a personal relationship with one of the Gundam Pilots, is that true."
Heero glanced at him momentarily. "It depends what you mean by personal. The Gundam Pilots zero three and zero five are her personal bodyguards, zero two is her best friend's boy friend and zero four is a colony diplomat. As for me, I was her personal bodyguard. But if you mean a personal relationship that went beyond friendship, it hasn't happened yet."
Kent mentally slapped Heero for his lie, he could always tell when Heero was lying, it was just one of those things. "You're lying about that last part. What happened?"

************

"You will not get away with this." Relena stated calmly to her captors as they roughly led her down a white walled, seemingly endless, hallway. The larger man to her right smirked at her statement.
"Why Miss Peacecraft," the other man gurgled out, his spit rolling around in his mouth making Relena suddenly sick to her stomach. "we have already gotten away with the most complicated part. From here on in, it should be a breeze."
They turned a corner Relena hadn't even known was there, the blinding white walls made it nearly impossible to discern corners or nooks, it was just too bright. Then she saw a change in color. Her eyes welcomed the sight of the door they were approaching, it's dark brown wood eased the burning sensation that was starting to make her eyes water. She was thrown roughly through the door, and it was closed quickly behind her. The room was pitch black and she had to close her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes again she had to blink just to realize that her eyes were in fact open. Slowly and cautiously, she stood. She tried to make herself as quiet as possible. If there was any other person in this room she wanted to know about it and she figured she would hear their breathing. She heard nothing but her own ragged breaths and racing heartbeat. She walked in a direction, her hands outstretched before her as though she were blind, trying to find her way. Her hands came in contact with cool wood. She reveled in the soft coolness of the wooden wall and leaned against it for support, slowly sinking to the floor.
"Heero," she breathed quietly, "I don't know where you are but please, come and save me." Her eyes welled up as tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.

**********

"Is Relena back yet?" Trowa asked to Quatre as he entered the control room at Preventers Headquarters.
"No, she is still at Montgomery's. Odd though, I wouldn't think it would take this long." Quatre replied.
"I think we should consider Montgomery a suspect." Trowa added quietly.
Quatre turned around abruptly, "Why?"
"He doesn't seemed worried enough that he could be next." Trowa started. He opened his mouth to continue when Duo burst through the door.
"Lyle Arc is in the slammer." He said gasping for breath.
"First off who is Lyle Arc, and secondly, why should we care if he's in jail." Trowa asked annoyed at the disturbance.
Duo sighed and regained his composure. "Lyle Arc is an ESUN delegate with great sway among its members. And the 'slammer' is a level four containment suite inside the Institute (USAMRIID) where they put people who are, or who they suspect of, being infect with a level four hot agent."
"Let me take a stab in the dark here." Trowa said his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Not only does this Arc guy have Marburg, but the only connection between him, Starlen and Richards is that they were all ESUN delegates."
"That would be it." Duo said with a smug half smile. Trowa sighed.
"Where are you Heero." Quatre said after a moment's pause.

************

"Why won't you tell me?" Kent asked again.
"Why won't you drop it." Heero said raising his voice.
Their car ride had continued on for a few more hours and the road still looked desolate. In the distance Heero could just make out what he thought was a gas station. He had sped up at its sight but when he told the others of it, they all thought he was seeing things because they saw nothing. But after a few minutes it came close enough that even they could make it out on the horizon line.
"Why does this question bother you so much?" Kent asked in the most serious tone he could muster. Inside he was beaming with delight, he knew he was on the verge of a breakthrough with Heero and was just waiting for the other man to crack. Hews and Decon looked on silently from the back seat. They were completely riveted in the conversation and were waiting for the same thing Kent was.
Heero finally lost it, "Because I'm in love with her!" he yelled as loud as he could. His face was red with anger and frustration and his grip on the wheel was so severe that his knuckles where a bleached shade of yellow. Inside he was reeling, he had finally said that out loud, but it did little to comfort his aching heart. He didn't think he deserved her, but he was determined to let her decide that, once this was all over. He hadn't wanted to tell anyone before he admitted it to her, but Kent just had a way of getting any information he wanted out of him. Heero assumed he was just getting soft, this calmed him some, he didn't want to be the perfect soldier anymore and the prospect of being soft made him feel better.
Kent couldn?t help the grin the spread across his face. He knew Heero was going to tell him something, but he certainly wasn't expecting that. He turned back to look at Hews and Decon. Hews was leaned back in her seat with a goofy looking grin on her face and Decon was trying his best not to smile because of Heero's angry state.
They felt the car gather energy and it started traveling at an incredible speed. Kent's expression immediately returned to its normal state and he looked at the speedometer. Eighty miles and hour, then ninety and it just kept going up. He turned to Heero nervously.
"Slow down Heero." He said, it was more of a demand than a request, this just seemed to anger the former Gundam Pilot more and he increased the speed. Hews began to scream in terror, thinking they would crash.
After a few more moments Decon had had enough, "Heero stop this car right now!" he yelled.
Heero practically slammed on his breaks. Making a dead stop right in the middle of the road. Kent looked up to find the gas station right in front of them and they were slowly pulling into a parking spot.
"You are in a car with the best pilot alive, whose specialty was speed flight, and you are frightened if I go over ninety in a car." Heero stepped out of the car briskly. "We're here, and if any of you EVER tell a soul what I just told you, I will not kill you, but you would be surprised what you can live through."
Everyone remained frozen in their seats for a moment as Heero entered the small gas station. There was an old man reading a magazine sitting behind the counter. Heero approached him and regaining his composure, spoke as politely as he could muster. "Excuse me sir, I hate to interrupt you, but you wouldn't happen to have a telephone or a pay phone I could use."
The old man looked up from behind his magazine with a big goofy smile on his face at the kind young man before him. As this was happening, Kent, Hews and Decon entered and walked up behind Heero. The old man grinned at Heero, his brown teeth in full view. "Why of course young man, I usually don't let anyone use my private phone," he said as he lifted a white corded phone from behind the counter, "but you're such a nice, polite young man, I don't know how I could refuse." Heero nodded and smiled as best he could in thanks. Picking up the receiver he dialed Preventers Headquarters.
"Hello, this is Heero Yuy, put me through to?" he thought for a moment, "Trowa Barton please." There was a short pause. "Trowa it's me." He paused again as Trowa spoke. "Trowa, calm down, I need you to send someone to pick up my team and I." He listened as Trowa spoke again. Then he turned to the old man. "Excuse me again sir, but could you tell me exactly where I am."
"Sure thing, you are at Al's Gas Station rout 1193 in West Kingston." The old man said proudly.
"And what country." Heero asked.
The old man looked at him in shock for a moment. "You're in Arizona son, in the great USA." He said not as proudly as before. Heero nodded again.
"Al's Gas Station on rout 1193 in West Kingston Arizona? Yes, the United States." Heero paused again as Trowa talked. ((A/N: there is no such place to my knowledge, I made it up.))
Heero hung up the phone a moment later. Then turned to his companions. "So?" Kent asked anxiously.
"He's on his way." He paused, "He's taking the Concord from Sank to Dallas Texas and then he'll get a helicopter and fly here. Then we'll retrace his steps back there." Everyone nodded.
"Can we get something to eat Heero, I'm starving." Hews asked in a show of helplessness.
"I'm sorry Hews, but they definitely didn't leave any money on me when they abducted me while I slept, and unless you have some on you I'm afraid we are going to have to go hungry." Heero said as his own stomach growled.
"You guys were abducted?" The old man asked.
Kent decided it was his turn to turn on the charm, "Yes sir, and that's why we didn't know where we were. Those evil jerks took us in the middle of the night."
The old man looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well then," he said cheerfully, "food's on me."

((A/N: Review! What happens next time when Heero finds out that Relena went to a meeting with Vice President Montgomery and doesn't come back. Oh the humanity! Just kidding. It?s not that life threatening. It seems as though I keep killing those poor ESUN delegates, yet, no bad guys have died yet. Hummmm?. That's just something to ponder. Have a lovely day? Be kind and review.))